The streamlining of referrals at South & East Belfast Health and Social
Services Trust
Joanna McQuillan and Dr Gillian Rankin share their
knowledge and experiences of a long-term project that is yielding dramatic
results.
ABSTRACT
This article describes how the processing of referrals received at the
South & East Belfast Health and Social Services Trust (SEBT) has been
streamlined by means of a call-management centre as the single point of
entry for all referrals to the Trust, the implementation of a Trust-wide,
single care-record system (PARIS) and a programme of changing working
practices.
An average of 5,000 incoming referrals are now processed each month by
the staff of the call-management centre for 10 of the Trust’s healthcare and
socialcare services.
Each referral takes an average of three minutes to enter and forward to a
care professional or team for action. The quality and legibility of referral
information have improved significantly. The streamlining of referrals
between services within the Trust has also been enabled by the new system.
Br J Healthcare Comput Info Manage 2005; 22(1): 23–5. |
